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U.S. Airline Mergers and Acquisitions

The table below is an unofficial compilation of completed (not merely proposed) mergers and acquisitions since the inception of the U.S. airline industry. Neither the U.S. Department of Transportation nor A4A maintains official records of airline M&A activity. As such, we cannot verify the accuracy of each individual entry. The table is provided as a service rather than an authoritative source. It is the only known comprehensive, centralized, publicly available source.

Title

Announced

Closed

Resulting Entity

Western Air Express / Standard Airlines

5/1/1930

Western Air Express

Western Air Express / Transcontinental Air Transport

7/16/1930

Transcontinental & Western Air

Delta Air Lines / Chicago and Southern (C&S) Air Lines

5/1/1953

Delta Air Lines

United Airlines / Capital Airlines

6/1/1961

United Airlines

Western Airlines / Pacific Northern Airlines

7/1/1967

Western Airlines

Frontier Airlines / Central Airlines

10/1/1967

Frontier Airlines

Alaska Airlines / Cordova Airlines

2/1/1968

Alaska Airlines

Allegheny Airlines / Lake Central Airlines

3/14/1968

Allegheny Airlines (later renamed US Airways)

Alaska Airlines / Alaska Coastal Airlines

4/1/1968

Alaska Airlines

Pacific Airlines / Bonanza Airlines / West Coast Airlines

7/1/1968

Air West

American Airlines / Trans Caribbean Airways

3/3/1971

American Airlines

Allegheny Airlines / Mohawk Airlines

4/12/1972

Allegheny Airlines (later renamed US Airways)

Delta Air Lines / Northeast Airlines

8/1/1972

Delta Air Lines

North Central Airlines/ Southern Airway/ Hughes Airwest

7/1/1979

Republic Airlines

Pan Am / National Airlines

1/7/1980

Pan Am

Republic Airlines / Hughes Airwest

10/1/1980

Republic Airlines

Continental Airlines / Texas Air Corporation

10/31/1982

Continental Airlines

Southwest Airlines / Muse Airlines

6/25/1985

12/12/1985

Southwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines / Republic Airlines

1/23/1986

10/1/1986

Northwest Airlines

TWA / Ozark Air Lines

3/1/1986

10/27/1986

TWA

Delta Air Lines / Western Airlines

9/9/1986

12/16/1986

Delta Air Lines

Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air

11/19/1986

12/31/1986

Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air

Continental Airlines / People Express / New York Air / Frontier Airlines